Eagles beat Hustlers to enter NTB final

Dubai - The Eagles take on the Imperial Knights who won 81-75 against hosts Nucaf Beatrice in the second semifinal.

Homeplusgarden Eagles snatched a thrilling 67-65 semifinal victory over the Hustlers in the inaugural NTB Basketball Tournament at the Salah Al Deen indoor hall. In the final, the Eagles take on the Imperial Knights who won 81-75 against hosts Nucaf Beatrice in the second semifinal.
The finals of the women's, under 19 and the men's divisions will be held at the same venue in Mamzar from 5pm onwards on Friday night. Beatrice Mystics, despite the 46-49 loss to Saintz Warriors in the final qualification match, will take on Almas Eagles in the women's division title round and DPS-Dubai will clash with Our Own English High School-Sharjah in the under 19 division, followed by the men's title clash.
In the women's final qualification phase, overseas player Dhanya (17) with the support of Atma Michael (11) and Ritu Singh (12) helped Saintz Warriors to build up a good score in all the periods. The star rebounder cum shooter Jincy Fernandez (13), Teena Joseph (11) and Neethu Maria (10) couldn't make Beatrice click, but the hosts still managed to the move into the summit round with a better point countback.
Homeplusgarden Eagles managed a comfortable 36-23 lead at the end of the first half. The Hustlers, in no mood to give up, fought back by reducing the lead at the end of the third period. It was in the fourth period that both sides performed with all the skills at their disposal before the Eagles moved ahead. Manoj Abraham (16), Dheeraj Shetty (15) and Kevin Varghese (12) contributed to the winning side while with a ray of hope Arafat and Savio with 17 points each fought till the end for a chance.
Imperial Knights were more convincing against Nucaf Beatrice and enjoyed the initial advantage till the end, to register a stunning victory over the home team. Trailing 36-52 at half time, Beatrice took the control of the game in the second half with a close marking strategy to slide through the guarded defence of their opponents when Shijas Abubacker (19) and Subin Salimkutty (18) dictated terms for the winners. Sidharth Singh (24) and Akhil Sunny (15) could only manage to reduce the lead of the opponents to leave the large gathering of Beatrice supporters disappointed.
moni@khaleejtimes.com